The Coin of the Year Awards 2014

In December 2013, it was announced that France had won the prestigious 2014 Coin of the Year Award sponsored by World Coin News.

The Monnaie de Paris’ Yves Klein 10-euro silver coin features a distinctive blue hand design, which contrasts against the silver background of the coin. The French coin was announced as the favourite coin at the conclusion of voting by an international panel of expert judges.

France has received the prestigious Coin of the Year award for their 10-euro silver coin.

The award ceremony

The Coin of the Year award ceremony will take place at the 43rd World Money Fair in Berlin on 8th February 2014. The World Money Fair takes place over the weekend in February with highlights that include the first issue of special and commemorative coins, as well as numerous prize draws and special coin-related activities.

The Coin of the Year awards began in 1984. The prestigious award was created by World Coin News to recognise the mints that create high quality coins and encourage coin artists to come up with innovative new designs.

This year all coins in the running for the awards were dated 2012. The nominating committee first met in the World Coin News offices on 4th October 2013. After sending ninety nine coins through to the first round of the Coin of the Year awards, the category winners were then determined, before a second round of voting which determined the overall Coin of the Year.

Coin Award categories

The French 10-euro coin was chosen as the Most Artistic Coin of the year, among the ten category winners that were selected to compete. France actually had two category winners in the running for the top award. The other coin being the silver 10-euro coin, KM-2079 that featured a French Ocean Liner design named ‘Le France.’

Australia was the other country to have two category winners competing in the final round. The winner of the Best Crown category was their silver five dollar coin, KM-1853 which featured the Southern Cross in a blue sky on the reverse. The Best Crown category is for coins which are approximately the size of a silver dollar. Their second category winner won the award of Best Circulating coin. This was the aluminium bronze one dollar coin, which was designed to commemorate the International Year of the Farmer.

The final category winners were divided among six nationals. Greece’s silver 10-euro coin called Greek Culture – Socrates, was voted the Most Historically Significant Coin. The Best Contemporary Event coin could go to no other than Great Britain’s silver 10-pound coin which was designed to commemorate the London Olympic Games 2013. This coin was voted the most historically important event in the past ninety nine years.

Canada’s glow in the dark coin won the Most Innovative Coin award category.

Canada’s Royal Canadian Mint was the Most Innovative Coin Award. Their spectacular nickel-plated steel 25-cent coin design featured a glow in the dark Dino Skeleton. The Best Bi-Metallic Coin went to Finland for its Helsinki – World Design Capital 50 euro coin. The coin has an outer ring made of silver and an inner ring made from gold.

Italy was announced the category winner for the Best Gold Coin with its Fauna in Art – Middle Ages 20 euro coin. Finally the award for the Most Inspirational Coin Category went to Alderney for their copper-nickel 5-pound coin which was created to commemorate 11th November, Remembrance Day.

Nominations for the 2015 Coin of the Year Awards

Anyone can nominate a coin for the 2015 Coin of the Year awards. They simply need to submit their nomination to World Coin News where it will be reviewed by the nominating committee. If the nomination is successful it will be judged by an international panel of experts made up of mint masters, artists and numismatists.